Buenas tardes Familia,This week has been super awesome and super funny. Elder Zenteno is just a really awesome guy. We honestly had some really funny experiences this last week.One of these funny experiences that we had was that, like I said before, I don't know my area very well yet. We literally ran around this week like chickens with their heads cut off (okay well I guess not literally). But honestly we just walked and walked and walked and walked. We walked around a block like 3 times looking for a house of one of them left actives... after not finding it I started to talk to someone in the street. I started the conversation and then my companion asked something like this "have you ever seen missionaries before" before she could respond I answered "well we walked passed here about 3 times in the last 10 minutes... I'm pretty sure you have had the chance to see us" she laughed and then told us she didn't want to learn about our message. Elder Zenteno and I definitely had a good laugh :)One thing that Elder Zenteno said this last week that I found very interesting was that it was weird for him how many people are so rude to us. He said that in all of his other areas people would invite him into their house and listen to their message or at least schedule a time for them to return. He said that he feels like nobody here wants to listen to us and that it's so weird how everyone is so Catholic here. For me all of this has been normal my whole mission... I guess I just kind of thought that this is how missionary life was everywhere... but he said that people are just really closed off here and are always too busy to hear us... he mentioned that it's probably because it's a city. All of this has been super normal for me... I guess that's a blessing that I have recieved from being in this state of Jalisco my whole mission.One super sad thing this last week happened. Elder Solórzano and I shared messages and served a family named Familia Jaramio. They always seemed happy to listen to us but just seemed like to be the typical less active family, didn't want to go to church. Well the first day this last week I brought Elder Zenteno to meet them. We entered and everything was normal but then Sister Jaramio said "I have some bad news... well good news for me but maybe bad news for you." She then went and told us that she returned to the Catholic Church... she went and confessed her sins to the Father there and couldn't stop crying from so much happiness that she recieved. She said that she wished she never would've left the Catholic Church and that it is the path that she has chosen and that she never ever will go back to the LDS Church.... Ouch. The only thing I could think of was talk about the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she ever really asked God if it was true and if she had ever recieved an answer that it is true. She pretty much said that it's a good book but that she never had prayed to God about it. We read in Moroni 10:3-5 and invited her to read part of the Book of Mormon and to ask God if it was true before she closed the door on our church. Pretty much she told me that she wouldn't pray about the Book of Mormon and was happy about the decision she made to go back to the Catholic Church. We shared our testimonies and left with a prayer. I honestly wanted to cry... it's just so sad. We shared messages with them like 3 times every week and I have cleaned their house like 3-4 times for service. I think there are two reasons that she fell away from the church; 1. She never had a testimony of the Church. 2. The members never visited her in her home therefore never really had a good relationship with anyone there. It is super sad... but just makes me want to work super hard helping the people feel welcome in the church especially in Home Teaching. The best experience ever in this last week is about to be shared, brace yourself. I definitely went through the Guadalajara Temple this last Saturday and did a session :). So in this mission it is a rule that the missionaries can't go to the temple for two reasons... 1. It's a rule of the mission. and 2. The temple is out of our mission's boundries. What happened was a missionary named Elder Payne came into our zone for his last week of his mission. The cool thing is that one of his converts was going to go through the temple on Saturday for her first time to recieve her endownments :) Well this convert just happened to be in my last area in Buenos Aires and I taught her a few times and always shared messages with her family :) Well the president told Elder Payne that he could go to the temple for his convert but that he should go on divisions with Elder Summers because he was also in that last area. :) This has definitely been one of the things I have always wanted to do and something that I thought that I would never have the chance to do... but it was amazing :) The convert (Hermana Guadalupe) looked like the happiest person I have ever seen in my life.... ever :) It was one of the best experiences I have had in my mission seeing a convert go through the temple. :) It was pretty cool going through the temple in Spanish as well and the new part was pretty cool too (just have to say... Saints and Soldiers). Awesome experience and awesome week!I love you all and we will be talking to you all next week! Love,Elder Summers

Hello Family,This past week was a pretty good week and we had a few unexpected changes. One thing that was pretty cool this week is that we had 3 investigators attend church... the weird thing is that we didn't visit a single one of them this past week. We have been trying to find the chosen investigators in our area and have found some really cool people. We found three people that were really excited and interested in our message and accepted a baptismal date and said they would go to church. It was so awesome! We were so excited for them and they said that they actually wanted to go to church, which doesnt happen very often. We made plans to help them get to church and everything, planned to pass by their house Sunday morning, planned who was going to sit by them in Sacrament Meeting, and looked at what ever obstacle that could be in the way of helping them attend church. Well after all of our efforts... none of these three people attended church :( but we had 3 investigadores that we didn't even see this last week that did attend church... sometimes it's a little funny how God works :)

Saying goodbye to Elder Solórzano

So we received changes this last week for all of our zone... this means that we have to plan for how each missionary is going to meet up with his/her new companion without ever being alone. Anyways it was pretty stressful and to our surprise, Elder Solórzano has changes too. He was sent about 8 and a half hours away from where our area is. I now have a new companion named Elder Zenteno. He is a really good guy and seems to work hard... I have heard a lot of great things about him and am excited to work with him. I really did like Elder Solórzano... we got along well and worked hard, yeah there were things that bugged me about him but we got along and worked hard... he is now gone after 6 weeks of being together. But the worst part is that I don't know my area... well I do... well kind of, but honestly I just followed him around everywhere and didn't pay too much atención on how to get to people's houses 'n' such. Well it turns out I am now no longer going to be able to trust in Elder Solórzano in guiding us to every lesson... and it's probable that Elder Zenteno and I are going to suffer a little bit this week finding our way around :) I'm actually excited for these changes.

Funny thing about Elder Zenteno is that he looks like he's American but he's not. He is from Monterrey, México and I guess there are a lot of white people there. He tells people where is from and nobody believes him (sus ojos de color no le ayudan mucho) [his eye color doesn't help very much]... it's actually quite hilarious.

Love you all,Elder SummersP.S. Xander that is so sick that you received your mission call. New Zealand sounds like its going to be so awesome! I am sure you will do great and help a whole bunch of people in ways you can't even imagine. Keep working hard and don't do drugs.

I realized that I didn't have a picture of Elder Zenteno so I said "I need a picture" he then turned and did that face and continued writing on the computer. What a White Mexican.

Familia,Well this week was pretty awesome I have to admit. We met with José Luís every night this last week to make sure he felt comfortable for his baptism.... and he's awesome so he was. Friday night we went to see him and he told us that he felt ready... my companion asked him what he would do if he had some trials the next day before his baptism and he told us simply, "¿Pues, superarlas no?" Which translates to something like "Well, overcome them no?". He's awesome! Anyways he definitely had a trial pretty big that next day. It was a pretty beautiful Saturday but then about 10 minutes before his baptism it started down pouring super hard... the hardest tempest that has happened in this rainy season here in Guadalajara. It was even hailing the size of marbles for a little while. We called him and he said, "well I am about halfway there but I am stuck here in the storm... I'm going to have to return home to change my shirt but I will be there soon." Well about an hour later he made it to the chapel with a huge smile on his face! Super ready to be baptized :) We then baptized him and it started to rain super hard again so nobody wanted to leave the chapel. At about 8:30 Elder Solorzano and I said a prayer and the hectic storm cleared up enough for everyone to get home in safety. Love faith and love prayer. This week was awesome and I have never seen José Luís more happy than he is right now :) My whole mission is worth it even if it was only for José Luís.Love the Church and Love you All,Elder Summers

Hey Family,So things have been going really well lately. Elder Solórzano and I are still working hard and having some success. One thing that has been hard is that we have been focusing on inviting people to be baptized and setting a bautismal date in the first lesson. Well, we had some success with this... we put 9 new bautismal fechas [dates] this last week. Pretty much we don't leave their house until they say that they are going to prepare for their baptismal date. Although we have been getting people to say yes, we have been lacking in actually helping them to have the desire to be baptized. They say yes because we kind of don't take no for an answer instead of helping them want to be baptized. It's tough though because we have to make these baptismal dates every day and find new investigators every day... and as L­íderes de la Zona we send the mission president a text message every night telling him how many dates we make and how many new investigadores we have found... if we didn't, we have to explain to him why and what we are going to do differently. It's kind of a lot of pressure. But out of these 9 dates we put, guess how many atended church? If you guessed 0 then you are correct. It's all good though, we'll keep searching for the chosen people... and inviting people to repent and be baptized. Speaking of baptism. José Luís had to have a special interview with the mission president to see if he could be baptized... anyways he passed and will be baptized this week! Yeah yeah! In the mission the investigadores have to attend church 5 times but he only has attended church 4 times... we talked to the Assistants to the President and they asked us why we want to baptize him early... we answered, "Well, he finished the Book of Mormon in 3 weeks and has been active at church since we have met him." Let's just say there will not be any problem with him being baptized this week :) It's pretty exciting! Well I better get going. I love you all and hope that you all keep staying strong in the church. Prayers are nice and I appreciate them, thank you very much :) But I'd also like to hear that everyone is going to church as well :)

Love,Elder Summers

Selfie with our investigador Raymundo! He is hilarious and acts like a little kid. I also gave him this tie that he has on. I love this guy.

We had to brush our teeth at the church because our investigator had an interview early in the morning! We're cool.

Familia,This week was a pretty swell week... a little stressful as always but it was good. This week we had Los Consejos. This is a meeting for all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders of the mission. The first night we go to the president's house to have dinner (we had pizza) and listen to a devotional done by the president... a very nice and calming environment. Then in the morning we go to a chapel and have the big meeting. We talk about what we accomplished in the past month and the goals that we have set for the next three months. The assistants to the president direct us in a few activities and the president gives us counsel to help us out in the field. Sounds like a pretty calm time... but honestly it felt like we got beat up and then at the end a pat on the back to make us feel better. It was really good and it was fun seeing what some of the other leaders are doing and accomplishing in their zones and areas... it was also very good to see Elder Neu who is a missionary from my district in the MTC. He is also a zone leader and seems to be doing very well. It was pretty crazy for both of us to see each other and it's even crazier to think that a year ago we were in the MTC together preparing to be out here in the field. Time flies by super fast.

José Luís is doing really well. He has been an investigator for 3 weeks now and about 4 days ago he finished the Book of Mormon. He is an inspiration... he loves to read the Book of Mormon. When we talked to him the last time he told us that he finished the book and told us that he started to read the dictionary at the back of the book. ;) Super funny. He assured us that he is going to read it again and put into practice the things that he is learning. He wants to be baptized but we are waiting for a special interview to help him become prepared for baptism. We are praying that everything turns out okay. He is just awesome and he makes me happy every time we visit him. Such a great guy. He is also 55 just as a side note.

Well, I am continuing to enjoy my time here in Libertad 1. Elder Solórzano is a really great guy and we are just trying super hard to search ways to help our investigators as well as the zone. Oh and in Los Consejos we talked about a problem that the leaders aren't getting to bed by 10:30 so the president cut down the data that we have to send in every night... so we still are trying super hard every night to get to bed by 10:30 but it is a lot better than before.